100 degree day 6yearold hen died of maggots and chicks ate them! Help!

[Christ'sCowgirlChick]

I was reading the forums about maggots and I'm guilty of letting my hen die "naturally" please don't lecture me. She was the most loved chicken I ever had! I couldn't bear to have my dad chop her head off! I swear I will if it ever happens again! Don't lecture.

Belive me I was screaming when I first saw them.

I've never seen maggots before!

So please. My hens and rooster + chicks are in cages I put up off the ground. But my hen died in the coop last night and my sister went in first and saw that the chicks were picking at Blackie. Probably eating maggots. They're only a mon. old. Now what will happen?

I've never had maggots in my 8 years of owning chickens! Please tell me anyting I could do to save my other chickens. I can't lose the rest of my flock. I'm showing them in Aug.

We've added goats and horses in the last 2 years. The horses are fine but the goats had worms bad. We also have cows. All the manure leading to mass infestation?

Thanks for any help!

 

[Imp]

Eating the maggots is probably not a problem, chickens eat bugs.

Sorry you lost your hen.

And Welcome to BYC.

Imp

 

[chkn]

Usually the maggots will take hold around the vent but sometimes they'll show up on other parts of the body. If you notice any hint of a chicken becoming droopy and slow, take a good look especially at the vent area. You only have a few days for an infestation to kill them so you have to be ready.

As a precaution to prepare for this in the future, go down to the farm supply and get some SWAT for your medical supplies. It's a fly repellant used for horses that comes in a little blue and white tub I believe. Our local pet supply has it too.

The next time you see maggots, wash off as many as you can (I'd give mine and bath and blow dry ) and apply SWAT liberally to the wound. Basically fill the 'hole' with SWAT. The maggots need air (that's why they crawl in and out) so when they come up for air they suffocate. Either way they suffocate.

You've seen what they can do now, there will be some type of hole or crater in the chickens flesh with worms going in and out. It's not pretty and you think they're finished. Do the treatment anyway no matter how appalled you are at the size, depth of the wound. You'd be surprised how a chicken can bounce back.

 

[Elite Silkies]

I'm sorry to hear that, but I think the chicks will be fine. Just keep an extra close watch on them, and make sure they have no wounds.

 

[carrlr]

So sorry for your loss. Maggots are generally on some type of wound, rotting flesh, etc. A fly will not lay eggs, if their young (maggots) don't have a "food" source. By eliminating the wound, or access to it, will go along way in detering fly or maggot infestation. Also, ensure you keep your coop, nesting boxes, etc. clean.

 

[CariLynn]

Wow!

Perhaps reading up on better farm husbandry and knowing what to do if you can't afford a vet. Even I will end the life of one of my animals or find someone who will do it for me instead of letting it suffer, and if you loved it so much you would of done the humane thing. That is part of being a good steward toward our animals, as they depend on us to do what is right, to end their suffering and to help if we can.

If you can, go by a local book store of library and read up on the basic chicken, goat and horse diseases, how to help them, what you can do if the vet cannot come right away, what basic medications and supplies you should have on hand in case something happens. It is a big responsibility to take good care of our animals, so no excuses when you did let your hen suffer, just learn from it and ensure that in the future it does not happen again.

 

[carrlr]

I believed she asked not to be lectured.

 

[kuntrygirl]

So sorry to hear about your hen. Sending you a big ole hug.

 

[laura949]

I just had to put down my 2 year old barred rock, Spotty. She had an infection full of maggots. I took her to the vet and got a lot of good info that I'm going to apply to the rest of my birds and I hope it helps someone here.

Background
Spotty was fine yesterday. She had some feses on her backside but nothing unusual .She is pretty good about cleaning herself and she is (was) very fluffy. I usually let my birds clean themselves unless they get really dirty or they stay dirty too long. It has been 80-95 degrees here. I have one dog.

Today she was lathargic and there were drops of blood on the ground next to her. I lost one bird to being egg bound and I let nature takes it's course when I couldn't cure her myself . I decided I wasn't going to do that this time. The vets are expensive but I now think of their fee as part of my education about caring for my chickens so in the future I can diagnose and treat with more knowledge. I immediately took her to the vet and to my horror she had a massive infection with no sign of a wound near her vent ! Basically her feses had irritated her skin like diaper rash. The flies were attracted to the feses and laid their eggs. The maggotts started doing their thing burrowing into the irritated skin and the infection spread throughout her blood stream. This all happened since yesterday. The vet told me that this can happen very fast and that I did nothing wrong. I was very concerned that she had an infection for days and I hadn't noticed, or our yard wasn't clean enough because of the dog , or I had been a bad chicken mommy, etc. ! But all that can be good and this can still happen the vet said. With the summer heat the flies and larve can do their stuff very fast !

So, to protect the four chickens I have left, the vet told me what to do. Clean out their area completely. All new nesting, all gound cover, etc. Dust the area with diatomatious earth. This keeps down insects. Start a four day de-worming treatment on the other birds. Clean the other birds and examine them more often. ( Most of them don't like to be handled but that's just to bad . Mommy is not going to let this happen again !) Keep the yard as feses free as possible. I'm going to put up some fly strips as well. This is all so gross with the flies and the maggotts it may just turn me into a clean freak !

I miss Spotty already. She was the flock leader and my most affectionate chicken.

 

[CariLynn]

Quote:
When one lets an animal suffer, learning from that experience so it does not happen again is paramount. We are our animals care takers, there is NO excuse for being squeamish or weak and letting it suffer needlessly. I did give her some ideas on what to do to hopefully ensure she doesn't let this happen again.